Mendocino County (; Mendocino, Spanish for "of Mendoza") is a county located on the North Coast of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 91,601. The county seat is Ukiah.
Mendocino County consists wholly of the Ukiah, California Micropolitan Statistical Area (μSA) for the purposes of the U.S. Census Bureau. It is located approximately equidistant from the San Francisco Bay Area and California/Oregon border, separated from the Sacramento Valley to the east by the California Coast Ranges. While smaller areas of redwood forest are found farther south, it is the southernmost California county to be included in the World Wildlife Fund's Pacific temperate rainforests ecoregion, the largest temperate rainforest ecoregion on Earth.
The county is noted for its distinctive Pacific Ocean coastline, its location along California's "Lost Coast", redwood forests, wine production, microbrews, and liberal views about the use of cannabis and support for its legalization. In 2009, it was estimated that roughly one-third of the economy was based on the cultivation of marijuana.
Mendocino is one of three Northern California counties to make up the "Emerald Triangle", along with Humboldt and Trinity counties.
History
thumb|left|upright|[[Antonio de Mendoza, the namesake of Mendocino County.]]
Mendocino County was one of the original counties of California, created in 1850 at the time of statehood. Due to an initially minor settler American population, it did not have a separate government until 1859 and was under the administration of Sonoma County prior to that. Some of the county's land was given to Sonoma County between 1850 and 1860.
The county derives its name from Cape Mendocino (most of which is actually located in adjacent Humboldt County), which was probably named in honor of either Antonio de Mendoza, Viceroy of New Spain, 1535–1542 (who sent the Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo Expedition to this coast in 1542), or Lorenzo Suárez de Mendoza, Viceroy from 1580 to 1583. Mendocino is the adjectival form of the family name of Mendoza. Many of these tribes thrown together were not on good terms with the other tribes they were forced to live with on the reservation, resulting in tensions still evident today.
Boundary dispute with Trinity County
In the first half of the 1850's the California State Legislature established that the boundaries of Mendocino and Trinity counties was the 40th parallel north. Both county boards of supervisors hired the surveyor W.H. Fauntleroy to survey the parallel, which he completed on October 30, 1872. The accuracy of the boundary was doubtful, and by 1891 the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors requested the California surveyor-general to survey the line and establish the boundary between the two counties. The new line, as surveyed by Sam H. Rice and approved by the California Attorney General on December 18, 1891, was found to be two miles north of the common boundary surveyed by Fauntleroy, thereby resulting in Trinity County exercising jurisdiction two miles south of the 40th parallel north. Between 1891 and 1907, both counties claimed that the two-mile-wide strip of land belonged to themselves and not the other, with both counties attempting to levy and collect property taxes on land in the strip. In 1907, Trinity County sued Mendocino County in a Tehama County court to settle the dispute. The trial court in Tehama County ruled in favor of Trinity County, even though the land was situated south of the 40th parallel and state law stated that lands south of that parallel belonged to Mendocino County. The appellate court upheld the ruling of the trial court since Section 10 of the special act of March 30, 1872 (Stats. 1871-2, p. 766), which concerned this boundary and was the act under which Fauntleroy acted under, authorized the survey of the theretofore unknown location of the 40th parallel north, stated that "the lines run out, marked and defined as required by this act are hereby declared to be the true boundary lines of the counties named herein", thereby making the law in the political code which defined the boundary as the 40th parallel north only a suggestion and not a fact. The legislature subsequently affirmed this decision, with the modern statute defining the borders of the two counties referencing the survey of Fauntleroy as being the boundary between the two counties instead of the 40th parallel north.
Geography
thumb|right|250px|A vineyard in Mendocino County
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (9.6%) is water.
Adjacent counties
- Humboldt County – north
- Trinity County – north
- Tehama County – northeast
- Glenn County – east
- Lake County – east
- Sonoma County – south
Rivers
right|thumb|220px|Aerial view of the mouth of the Noyo River on the Pacific Ocean at Fort Bragg
- Albion River
- Alder Creek
- Bear Haven Creek
- Bee Branch Creek
- Bee Tree Creek
- Beebe Creek
- Big River
- Big Salmon Creek
- Eel River (inland)
- Elk Creek
- Gualala River
- Garcia River
- Little River
- Little Salmon Creek
- Navarro River
- Noyo River
- Pudding Creek
- Russian River (inland)
- Ten Mile River
- Virgin Creek
- Usal Creek
Beaches
thumb|right|A beach near Elk
- Big River Beach
- Caspar Headlands State Beach
- Van Damme Beach
- Greenwood State Beach
- Seaside Beach
- Westport-Union Landing State Beach
- Manchester State Beach
- Navarro Beach
- Portuguese Beach
- Schooner Gulch State Beach
- Long Valley Creek
- 10 Mile Creek
- Glass Beach
National and state protected areas
- Admiral William Standley State Recreation Area
- Caspar Headlands State Recreation Area
- Hendy Woods State Park
- Jug Handle State Reserve
- MacKerricher State Park
- Mailliard Redwoods State Natural Reserve
- Manchester State Park
- Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens
- Mendocino Headlands State Park
- Mendocino National Forest
- Mendocino Woodlands State Park
- Montgomery Woods State Natural Reserve
- Navarro River Redwoods State Park
- Point Arena State Marine Reserve & Point Arena State Marine Conservation Area
- Point Cabrillo Light Station
- Reynolds Wayside Campground
- Round Valley Indian Reservation
- Russian Gulch State Park
- Saunders Reef State Marine Conservation Area
- Sea Lion Cove State Marine Conservation Area
- Sinkyone Wilderness State Park
- Smythe Redwoods State Reserve
- Standish-Hickey State Recreation Area
- Van Damme State Park